Airport security may soon let shoes stay on

Mon, 09/12/2011 - 00:00 EDT - LA Times

Technology improvements in airport screening machines could soon allow travelers to pass through the checkpoints while wearing belts, coats and shoes, Homeland Security's Janet Napolitano says.Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently offered some good news for air travelers: The days of marching through airport security checkpoints in your stocking feet may soon be over.

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Usually when we write about gripes with the Transportation Security Administration, it’s that the TSA is being too nosy and touchy-feely at airport security checkpoints, but what about when it just decides that two entire lines of travelers don’t need the full screening and deserve the same expedited screening as the pre-vetted t

Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano predicted Tuesday that airline passengers in the future will no longer be instructed to remove their shoes at airport security. But the technology to scan shoe-wearing passengers for bombs does not yet exist and may not be available soon.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us

You won't have to remove shoes or belts, but you have to get the OK from an explosive-sniffing dog and an agent trained to detect suspicious behavior.To ease delays at airport security checkpoints, the Transportation Security Administration has launched a pilot program that lets average travelers speed to their planes without having to remove shoes, belts and coats or take laptops and liquids out of carry-on bags.

With global air passenger traffic set to double in the next 20 years, airlines and airports are growing increasingly anxious about the deluge of travellers that is already jamming up overcrowded security checkpoints.
But advocates of a new approach to airport screening say better security doesn’t have to come at the expense of travellers’ time, and imagine a not-too-distant future where passengers can sail through security with their shoes on and their shampoo stashed in their carry-on.

Anyone who flies has suffered the agony of long security lines, intrusive X-ray scans or pat downs, and confusing rules. But which airports incite the most frustration? As part of our first-ever airport survey, Travel + Leisure asked readers to rate the check-in and security process at 22 major domestic airports.

Airlines with direct flights to the United States have been told to tighten screening of mobile phones and shoes in response to intelligence reports of increased threats from Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant groups, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
The officials singled out smartphones including iPhones made by Apple Inc and Galaxy phones made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for extra security checks on U.S.-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who led the burgeoning Department of Homeland Security through a host of policy changes in the post 9/11 era, is resigning to head the University of California system.

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the FBI wants to speak with two men seen in at least one video from the Boston Marathon but says she isn’t calling them suspects.
Without providing details of the men’s appearance or what the video shows, Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday that “there is some video that raised the question” of individuals the FBI would like to interview.